I Did Not Know
I asked God to let me be a journalist. In high school the door opened for me to write regularly in the school paper and in the local newspaper. In later years "The Bare Facts" was a weekly article in another newspaper.
I asked God to let me serve Him while traveling the world as an international war correspondent. My mind created scenes of reporting human-interest stories from far-flung battlefields fraught with conflict.
When God did not allow me to be a war correspondent I asked Him to let me serve our government with the ambition of becoming an FBI agent.
Then I filled out an application for law school. But didn't mail it. Then I became involved in the private Christian school movement.
All the while, my intention was to serve the Lord with my whole heart. Even in high school days there were side-thoughts of being a missionary. However, it seemed to me reasonable that if a person would follow Jesus He would allow them to choose where and how to serve.
In 1973 Laila saw my restlessness. She knew my inclinations to seek yet again an esoteric professional experience that would bring adventure, danger, and excitement. It was her suggestion that we talk to the Bishop. I was so glad when the Bishop said: "Well, you are a fine young couple, but there is no church to offer you. However, there is a church that is probably going to be closed. They do have a parsonage. Why don't the two of you get away for the weekend and go there and preach. You need refreshment."
We did get away. Seventeen people came to church that Sunday. The next morning we accepted responsibility for the little congregation with an ugly church building. Five years and four months were committed to that congregation with every day being full, exciting, adventuresome, and fraught with danger. Many are the stories I have written of conflicts with hell on that battlefront. God gave victory! That congregation is today a healthy, vibrant force for Jesus with a powerful ministry! We only left to return to school.
In 1981 I was doing immigration work in New York City and working on a doctorate at UVA. In addition to writing a manual for instituting a cross-cultural department for a denomination, my journeys often took me into the heart of New York City to Czech, Hungarian, German, Romanian, Haitian, etc., churches. It was clear to me that the Lord had finally given me my dream...excitement with travel and seeing the peoples of the world!
Ready to finish my school work from any place in the world Laila and I were looking to move to Moscow, Paris, London, California...anywhere away from Charlottesville. We were selling furniture to reduce moving expenses.
Through a strange turn of events, within days we found ourselves moving into the front door of the apartment in the church, while the former pastor moved out the back door. We gathered to ourselves a worship congregation of about 65 wonderfully dedicated Christians...all white!
Little did any of us realize that in time the Lord would work in our hearts His wondrous grace. In the first year we built a new sanctuary with much volunteer labor. Not long in the new sanctuary and classrooms, we gave over $20,000 in six weeks to build a mission church in the Dominican Republic.
Then one day the Lord added an African American young soldier lady to our congregation. Twenty-six years have passed since Laila and I brought our family to serve Covenant Church. Yesterday precious people from Italy, Korea, Congo, Ghana, Sudan, Bulgaria, Togo, Burma, Liberia, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, El Salvador, Philippines, China, Honduras, India, et al., and many states across our great nation gathered as a Covenant Family to celebrate our common salvation and the joy of being children of God.
I did not know that God would take my desire to go to the world and bring the world to us! I did not know what wondrous excitement God could bring to the joys of being a pastor.
You cannot imagine how exciting it is for me as Senior Pastor to think about our 8th Annual Mission Banquets this weekend. The food is provided by parishioners preparing their favorite cultural dishes. Folks are encouraged to wear clothing characteristic of their culture, or to dress in cultural clothing of choice. Covered with much prayer, we trust the Lord for this to be a blessed event that will minister to missionaries present, and inspire us to be servants of Our Lord Jesus to carry/send the gospel to our community and our world.
Tobey and Brandy Bouch have led our mission team to prepare for this weekend. We look forward to sharing the excitement with you. If you have not already registered for one of the banquets, you may do so by calling the church office at 973-5536. YOU ARE INVITED!
Prayerfully,
Pastor Bare
Ecclesiastes 4;9-10 "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up..."